Peacock in the City?

[Mmmatt13]

You can always just get hens. Depending on the variety, they can be beautiful, too. Plus you get eggs to eat!

 

[FitzD]

Yes, We were actually thinking we could probably get a white female, or a Java. Which do you recommend?

 

[Mmmatt13]

Both. They need friends.

 

[FitzD]

now the easy part is choosing, finding them nearby is another story!

 

[Mmmatt13]

Check out the UPA, there's a list of breeders and you can most likely find some that are local. Are you looking to get adults or younger ones? Some breeders sell their breeding stock on occasion, or maybe they'll have some 2011 or 2010 hatchers.

http://www.peafowl.org/breeders.htm

Looks like there's one in Chicago that breeds Green and White.

Heads up, though, if you're looking for younger birds, Whites are close to impossible to sex, unless you get them blood sexed, which costs I think $25. I've never done it so I can't tell you where to find information on that, maybe someone will chime in? Or I think I saw it on one of the sticky's here? I don't know.

Good luck!

 

[ggemini40]

I live in the city and this peacock been walking around my backyard and the neighbors yard for 3yrs, in mornings between 6:00 & 7:00 am he's yelling loud. Unknown sex, but it's a beauty .I was thinking about trying catch it and sell it. lol

 

[PeacockMan]

If you want to be a good neighbor you will not acquire a peacock for the following reasons:

1. He will make all kinds of noise at all hours of the day and night.
2. He will go to the neighbors and jump up on the hood of their new car to look at himself in the windshield.
3. While he is on the hood he will leave scratches and poop all over the car.
4. He may attack the neighbor's children and draw blood.

I could go on but you get the picture?

 

[SDpeafowl]

I live right in the center of my town, there only about 1,200 people that live in town. All my neighbor's actually enjoy the birds AND their noises. My one neighbor is an elderly lady who lives by herself and she always says she feels more safe with the peacocks next door because they always make noise if something is out of the order. She also says that it drowns out the dogs' noises (There is a dog problem in our town.) We even bought a bench so that my neighbors can come and watch the birds. They love them!

Choosing what kind to get is a tough decision!

EDIT: My peacocks are very noisy day and night and I haven't had a complaint in almost the 5 years I have had them, but that may be different in a big city because in small town we know all our neighbors. There is also another guy on the opposite end of town that has peacocks and once in a while mine and his will "talk" back and forth.

 

[Katie Hays]

I have two peacock and six pea hen neighbors.The loudest and prettiest on the block! We do not mind the noise because they only cry at night when they see intruders. They are excellent snake hunters and because they roost so high in the trees they know when raccoons or coyotes are coming in from the surrounding pastures. Great neighbors in rural central Texas.

 

[msmolly]

I have always had relatively quiet peacocks. I have never kept more than 1 male at a time with 2 females. I was taught early on that bonding them with chicken chicks and raising them together helps, 1)keep them close to home, and 2) keeps them quieter. For what ever reason, my peacock is fairly quiet. He doesn't make a sound in winter(He drops his tail in September which really humbles him) then squaks a bit in spring breeding, if his hens are not in sight. He screams when trucks come up my driveway(especially if they make that beep beep backup noise) and he yells after dark if any one slams the door.
He loves his chicken hens and protects them just like the peahens. I don't keep a rooster, as that would irritate him and the neighbors.
Just make sure he has some good high perches, and a mirror really helps. You can get a big plexiglass mirror for his cage, and that also helps keep them guiet I think.(just be careful not to face it into the sun- or you may blind him and burn your neighbor's house down!).
I invite my neighbors from coctails early summer(after the spring squaking) and hand out peacock feathers( and chicken eggs throughout the year). Keeps every one happy.